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Return To Oz (Walt Disney film)
Return To Oz is a fantasy adventure film that was made as the Walt Disney studio's attempt to get in on Oz. The film was directed by Walter Murch, a respected editor and sound designer. Although it did not fare well at the box office and received mixed reviews from critics, it has gained a loyal following among fans of Baum's original Oz books and nostalgic fans. The film was released in theaters on June 21, 1985. Plot It has been six months since the tornado hit the Kansas prairie and carried the farmhouse away, and a depressed and broken down Uncle Henry is trying to build a new one. It is half finished, with winter just around the corner. The majority of the Gale farm is in ruins, the barnyard has been severely damaged by the storm and is barley standing, and everything around is either gone or in a state of poverty and despair. Resulting in the entire farm and the farmland having to be put up in mortgage. After returning from the land of Oz, Dorothy Gale is no longer the bright and energetic child who plays with her pet dog Toto because she has become melancholic and cannot sleep because she is obsessed with her memories of Oz. She has dreams and even nightmares about Oz, and this concerns Aunt Em and Uncle Henry, who don't believe her stories about her amazing fantastical adventures, and are worried she cannot help them on the farm, which is at risk of foreclosure after the tornado. The two decide to take her to see Dr. Worley, known for his revolutionary electroshock therapy healing treatments. Before going, Dorothy, while looking hopefully for any eggs laid by her favorite chicken, Billina the yellow farm hen, who is not producing eggs for Aunt Em to cook to feed the family anymore, finds a key with the Oz glyph engraved in it, which she believes her friends from Oz sent to her the previous night by shooting star as a sign saying that they're in trouble. Aunt Em also complains about Uncle Henry's laziness due to a broken leg. Which is his excuse as to why the new house isn't finished. Aunt Em takes Dorothy to a psychiatric clinic to seek the help of a professional therapist so the child can sleep again, sadly kisses her goodbye, tells her that she will back for her the next day when Dr. Worley is done treating her as his patient and she even promises to bring Toto when she comes back, and leaves her at Dr. Worley's laboratory under the strict care of Nurse Wilson, a stern faced woman dressed all in black takes Dorothy to an empty dark waiting room after Aunt Em leaves to return to the farm before nightfall. The stern Dr. Worley carefully listens to her story about Oz, and after questioning Dorothy several times decides to use an electroshock therapy machine on her to cure her of all her Oz "delusions". As she is taken to have treatment during the onset of a huge thunderstorm, the lab has a blackout and Dorothy is saved by a mysterious and pretty young blonde girl who is around her age and happened to come out of nowhere. She is barefoot, dressed in an old fashioned hospital gown, asks Dorothy why she was brought to the hospital and gives her a little pumpkin with a carved face as Halloween is right around the corner, and reveals that some patients have been driven insane by Dr. Worley's treatment and are hidden in the basement to keep people from knowing the truth and fighting him and Nurse Wilson out of their crimes. The two escape the building with Nurse Wilson in pursuit, and then fall into a river. The blonde girl vanishes underwater, but Dorothy survives by clambering on board an old wooden chicken coop which was floating nearby. It is large enough for Dorothy to fit inside of it, and she climbs safely inside like a baby in a cradle and falls fast asleep as it floats off into the abyss carried by the strong current and into the unknown. The next day, the storm is over and the sun shines bright, and upon awakening, a sleeping Dorothy finds herself back in Oz with Billina at her side for company. Dorothy discovers that the hen can now magically talk, and the two walk through a grassy green meadow filled with rich trees and little flowers, as Dorothy and Billina eventually reach Munchkinland only to find it completely deserted and desolate because no munchkins are seen anywhere, discover the old farmhouse that the tornado blew away and landed on the wicked witch of the east in front of the ruined yellow brick road where the bricks have been pulled out of the ground and removed from it's foundation, and they all are either broken in half or lay jumbled up in a mess. The emerald city is now in ruins, missing its precious emeralds, and all of its citizens including the tin man and cowardly lion have been turned to stone. Dorothy is saddened to see that the atmosphere is very gloomy like a desolate graveyard because it is surrounded by a thick dark forest with branches that hang dead and low, instead of the lovely colorful place she remembers on the first trip. Pursued by wheelers, which are a very rare species of bizzare, scary looking, viciously terrorizing, creepy, psychotic, dark, and hostile men who have wheels for hands and feet, Dorothy and Billina hide in a secret room using the key, and meet a clockwork mechanical man named Tik-Tok who is in the royal army of Oz. Taking charge, Tik-Tok explains that the scarecrow, who is now the king of Oz since the wizard has left, is missing and has been captured by the nome king. When the three go to visit a head-exchanging witch named Mombi, who looks just like Nurse Wilson, for more information, they end up imprisoned. While imprisoned, Dorothy, Billina, and Tik-Tok meet Jack Pumpkinhead, a man made of tree limbs with a pumpkin for a head. Jack refers to Dorothy as his mother since she resembles his own creator and reveals he was brought to life via Mombi's powder of life. They formulate a plan to escape to the nome king's mountain. Dorothy steals the powder of life and uses it to vivify a conglomerate flying machine with the head of a moose-like animal whose body is made from a sofa, palm fronds, and rope gathered from their surroundings. They escape and fly across the deadly desert with Mombi and the wheelers pursuing underground. The gump's body falls apart while airborne and the group lands on the nome king's mountain. The nome king brings Dorothy into his domain, where he offers them to take part in his guessing game to free the scarecrow, who has been turned into an ornament and had hidden him among his large collection, but three guesses wrong and they will be turned to ornaments as well. He also justifies his actions by arguing that the scarecrow stole the emeralds from his kingdom to build the emerald city. The gump, Jack, and Tik-Tok take their turns before Dorothy and fail, and as all meet this fate, and with each one changed, the nome king becomes increasingly human, who looks like Dr. Worley. When it is Tik-Tok's turn, he pretends that his gears have run down, and Dorothy is allowed in to wind him. Before Dorothy enters the ornament room to make her guesses, the nome king reveals to her that he was able to capture the scarecrow, wreak havoc on Oz, and conquer the emerald city courtesy of her discarded ruby slippers that fell off of her feet and landed on the top of the his mountain on her way back into the real world because she was so anxious and excited to get back to Kansas after her first visit to Oz. Dorothy realizes that the ruby slippers not only fell into the wrong hands because the nome king found them, kept them as his own, and is wearing them on his feet, but also sadly sees that what has happened to Oz is part of her fault. The nome king offers to use them to send her back home on the condition that she will lose all her memories of Oz and reminds her that "there's no place like home", but she refuses and goes to find her friends. Tik-Tok lets Dorothy in on his plan—if he guesses incorrectly, she can see what ornament he will be transformed into, giving her a clue as to which one the scarecrow is hidden as. But as he makes his last guess, there is a bright flash and Dorothy cannot find him. Then, Mombi arrives in the nome kingdom, fearing that Dorothy might guess correctly and find out about Ozma. The nome king instantly grows angry at the suggestion Ozma may have escaped Mombi too, but when he is assured she hasn't he relaxes and tells Mombi that soon no-one will remember Oz and he will turn fully human. The nome king is sure that Dorothy will fail. On her last guess, Dorothy manages to locate the scarecrow, who was changed into a green emerald ornament. With the scarecrow back to normal, he and Dorothy begin restoring the other people from Oz who are all green ornaments, and Dorothy frees the rest of her friends, except Tik-Tok. Upon learning this, the enraged nome king realizes what's happened and becomes consumed with fury and traps Mombi in a cage for her failure as punishment for letting Dorothy escape, he leaves to deal with her directly and then confronts Dorothy and company in a gigantic monstrous form. Intent on killing each one of them, he has his minions block off any possible escape route, as the group runs away, nome monsters who all look like demons come out of the walls trying to claw at and catch hold of them. He then tries to eat them, but he freezes in terror at the sound of Billina clucking, while the hen, who had been hiding in Jack's hollow head, lays an egg in fright and it falls into the nome king's mouth. The nome king drops Jack and he, his minions, and his kingdom begin crumbling to pieces by disintegrating in flames of red smoke and fire and leaving a pile of rocks and boulders, as eggs are poisonous to nomes. As the palace crumbles and they seem to have no means of escaping, Dorothy finds the ruby slippers and wishes for the emerald city to return to normal and for her and her friends to escape, which they do. After arriving safely just outside the emerald city, they find a green badge on the gump's antler and it proves to be Tik-Tok's transformation. In the emerald city, during a victory celebration, Dorothy spots the girl who had helped her escape the hospital in Kansas in a giant mirror dressed elegantly in a emerald green gaudy ball gown and adorned in precious jewels and crystals. Recognizing her, she walks towards Dorothy gracefully with a friendly smile. Dorothy helps her carefully step out of the mirror and to her side. She is really an imperial and immortal princess named Ozma, who is Jack's long-lost creator and the rightful ruler of Oz, who had been enchanted into a mirror by Mombi. Taking her place on the throne, Dorothy hands over the ruby slippers. After Mombi is imprisoned, Dorothy has her black magic and witchcraft taken away for all eternity. Ozma declares that a witch with no magic is a miserable creature indeed and forgives Mombi, then invites Dorothy to visit Oz any time she likes before sending her home, promising that she will check in with Dorothy from time-to-time to make sure that she is all right. Ozma also promises that if Dorothy ever wishes to return to Oz, she will make it so. Billina, who throughout the entire adventure was not that fond of Oz, decides not to return to Kansas after all, seeing how nice Oz truly is now that things are good again. Dorothy says goodbye to all of her new and old friends and promises to never forget any of them as she disappears in a flash of bright white light. Back in Kansas, Dorothy is located on a riverbank by Toto and Uncle Henry, who were leading a search party for her, as Aunt Em reveals that Dr. Worley's hospital was struck by lightning and burned down. Everyone, including damaged patients in the cellar escaped, except Dr. Worley because he was killed in the fire after he had gone back in to rescue his machines, while Nurse Wilson is carried away in a prison cart eerily similar to the one Mombi was trapped in. Upon returning to the farmhouse, Dorothy wonders if her trips to Oz might not have been dreams after all, until she makes the Oz symbol on her mirror, and sees Billina and Ozma peering at her. When Dorothy entreats Aunt Em to come to her room to see Ozma, Ozma silently instructs her to keep her and Oz a secret by shushing her gently and vanishing. Aunt Em encourages Dorothy and Toto to then run outside and play. Cast of characters Fairuza Balk as Dorothy Gale Brian Henson as Jack Pumpkinhead Sean Barrett as Tik-Tok Nicol Williamson as Dr. Worley / the nome king Jean Marsh as Nurse Wilson / Mombi Piper Laurie as Aunt Emily Gale Matt Clark as Uncle Henry Gale Denise Bryer as Billina Lyle Conway as the gump Pons Maar as the lead wheeler / a nome messenger / one of Nurse Wilson's assistants Emma Ridley as the girl at the hospital / Princess Ozma Justin Case as the scarecrow John Alexander as the cowardly lion / a wheeler Deep Roy as the tin man Jon Jacobs as the cage carrier Sophie Ward as Mombi II Fiona Victory as Mombi III Bruce Boa as a policeman Tansy as Toto Trivia This film is not a peppy musical sequel to the to the hugely beloved happy clappy classic Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film adaptation of "The Wizard Of Oz", and critics who were unfamiliar with the books to thought this movie was too dark and gloomy for young children, which caused them to make unfavorable comparisons to the MGM film. The movie was deliberately intended to approach a darker take on and more faithful adaptation of the source material as L. Frank Baum envisioned it with visual inspiration from John R. Neill's illustrations, along with a number of elements from the original book that will please purists. It is very loosely based on and a combination of the second and third novels of the fourteen books in the series: "The Marvelous Land Of Oz" and "Ozma Of Oz", because it was made as a continuation of the Oz book series since it is a sequel to the generic story in the original "The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz" novel. The crew at the Walt Disney studio did not want to completely lose the audiences who were familiar with the MGM film and paid tribute to it because they obtained a license and paid a large fee to use the ruby slippers, and also used Noel Langley's idea of having characters in Kansas become characters in Oz. The Mombi of the movie is a combination of the old witch Mombi in The Marvelous Land Of Oz and Princess Langwidere in Ozma Of Oz. Originally the scarecrow, the tin man, and the cowardly lion were to have more prominent roles in this film, however, budget cuts forced their appearances to be reduced to mere cameos. After Return To Oz was released, the Oz novels were subsequently reverted to the public domain because Disney lost the film rights to them. The initial release to home video cassette occurred in 1985 shortly after the theatrical release, it was initially priced with a list price of $79.95. Disney reissued it in 1992 with alternate cover art. Category:Movies Category:The Wizard Of Oz